Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Opinion
Gone in 60 Seconds
9/25/2006
Why are these seemingly obvious precautions so often overlooked? Best case assumption, it’s an example of installers not following the intent of the designer, whether it’s written into a specification or part of verbal instruction. Maybe it saved them five minutes not to use the security hardware, or not to tie the sensor coil off to structure above the ceiling grid.
When a large number of projectors were stolen from my alma mater, I contacted the vendor who had provided and installed them to offer advice on how to protect the other projectors on the campus. I had not worked for the college, but the vendor was working for several of my clients and was bidding on several of my projects. Instead of even acting appreciative for the input, their reaction was, “If we take all of these security precautions you recommend for the projectors, then the manufacturer that we push won’t honor the advanced replacement warranty. Besides, if the projectors get stolen, we just sell them new ones – their insurance should cover it.”
It’s hard not to get cynical about motivations when you hear that kind of response.
Sometimes it’s a quality control issue – the person responsible for the system walks into the room, looks up at the projector, sees the security devices, and assumes that everything is mounted, wired, and secured properly. Every installed projector should be checked up-close, to make sure that it has been installed safely and securely.
A student at a major university recently went to the facilities office, asked to borrow a bolt cutters, received one without being asked any questions or showing ID, and proceeded to walk down the hall to an auditorium control room where they cut the cable lock securing a projector and removed the projector. In this instance, they were working for the classroom technologies group, but it was alarming how easily they were able to use university resources to get access to secured technology. Could this happen at your institution?
Will Craig CTS-D is a consultant with Elert & Associates, an independent technology consulting firm serving higher education clients across the United States.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Getting the Money Right
A clear sign that online and distance learning is maturing is that we are struggling with how to organize and fund these programs on an ongoing basis.
- Technology and Campus Services
Can auxiliary services be mission-critical? You bet they can. With tuition on the rise, Auxiliary Services departments at a variety of colleges and universities are proving that they can innovate and still save their parent institutions cash.
- Ad It Up
Commercials on television tend to enrage me and laugh tracks are guaranteed to give me a headache. Plus, where do people find the time to watch TV?
- What Is the Purpose of an Electronic Portfolio? Is the Answer the Key to Your Successful Implementation?
Among many themes, Margaret Price explores the theme of purpose in her Viewpoint. One purpose of ePortfolio is to reflect on change from a beginning to a later point in time. In a future Viewpoint, Margaret will return to the SpEl.Folio and we’ll see how her thinking and her project have evolved.
- Making Faculty Smarter about Smart Technology
If you’re not also enabling the ‘why’ or ‘what’ behind the tech tools you give your faculty, you’re not enabling effective use of those tools.
- Smashing the Shackles of Intentionally Dysfunctional Technology
Until last week, it hadn’t "clicked" inside my head that the Library of Congress could or would make specific exemptions to copyright laws.
